


Glass Corners

by Bubbling_Drabbles



Series: Twin monarch au [3]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:27:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22301065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bubbling_Drabbles/pseuds/Bubbling_Drabbles
Summary: A nosy Vessel gets themself in a touch of trouble snooping about where they shouldn't be in the middle of the night... Perhaps haphazardly following their curiosity wasn't the wisest choice this time around.
Series: Twin monarch au [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1647178
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Seeker & their twin Wanderer replace little Ghost's presence in this world, and are set post "Dream no more". Not all "bosses" were encountered or defeated before hand, and some may be reoccurring! Fair warning for spoilers too.

Was it wise, to see where that key they found went without Wanderer? Probably not. But… Curiosity was a terrible weakness of theirs. And it wasn’t like it would be unfair to go investigate things; their twin willingly ran off into Deepnest like this all the time! What else was Seeker supposed to do in the middle of the night, with Wanderer gone for a day or two? Sleep? 

Yes, but, also no- not while there were secrets to be discovered! Besides, they were always sleepless anyways… What difference would it make? Doubts and any option to turn back were cast aside as the door slid open, the path inside dim, yet… Cushy. Weirdly welcoming and easy on their eyes- few actually lit places were like that for a creature of void like themself. But they weren’t complaining, no! If anything, it was all the more reason to take their time, to nitpick over every detail they found.

This place was all locked up, cozy, hidden away- oh, it had to have some exo-skeletons in the closets. But perhaps that notion was FAR too literal, as the first real object that was found… Was a jar. _A jar with a body in it,_ what looked like a leaping husk… Or perhaps that had been a normal person, hard to tell, but either way, not a good sign. Not a good sign, but a luring one, the jar shattered and each one after it carefully investigated. A live vengefly, released and rapidly dispatched for it’s SOUL. An average city guard- surprising, and pulling. A heavy guard. An obble. More and more, red flags one after another, and yet the sheer obsession for answers pulled them forward! What was behind this, what was locked up here? Were they prisoners for a reason? Was this how the fallen kingdom dealt with some problems? Or was this… Some sick game?

Oh, they **had** to know. They couldn’t just find all this and turn back, as a room filled to the brim with jars loomed before them. Much larger than the other twisting paths, surely the top of the tower- this had to have the answers. It really was too spacious, they should’ve known from previous encounters sudden wide expanses were a bad thing! In fact, they did know, they knew something was wrong here, but… The first few steps in, and nothing happened. Nothing, nothing.. Perhaps they had grown paranoid?

Seeker sighed, heading to the back of the room and starting to look through more of the jars. Indeed, there was more- fascinatingly, much more of these creatures were alive! Aspids, balders, more vengeflies, such an odd collection of things. The fact so many lived meant… Well, they must’ve been recently captured, but that ruled out some theories. So what was this place? Why was it so… Cushy, and quiet? So nicely lit for an odd bug like themself, why were there so many things in jars?

… Why was their reflection so off? Perhaps it was the curved glass warping things, but- no, they wouldn’t see their shade either way. There shouldn’t be something dark, with white eyes… B.. Behind them.

Uh oh.

A hand is fast to reach for their nail, but the vessel found themself all too easily stopped- their hand caught by one similarly cold, and sheerly dark. Seeker’s thoughts raced faster than they could coherently keep up with as they were whirled around; questions, familiar yet fleeting emotions they never had the names for, attention pulled to a sudden dragging, heavy sensation as if they’d been swallowing rocks, or excessive amounts of water. 

A tall, wispy, four armed figure loomed well over the vessel, one hand already painfully gripping their wrist. To Seeker’s surprise, and yet all the same, concern- they stooped down, almost less threatening when on eye-level… Yet, feeling less towering, and much more… Un.. Uncomfortable- was that the word for it? Ah, probably. They could certainly imagine how one would describe this as such, having their face gently grabbed, this thing, this- bug? Leaning way too close.

And they couldn’t say they appreciated the giggling, either. Or the extra hand on their waist, or the open j- WAIT, WAIT _NO NO NO NO!!!_ Seeker let out a spine-chilling shriek as they were lifted, void tendrils lashing out at the offending figure now trying to place them in the jar they’d been investigating. Though, the rebellion and shrieks were only met with a cacophony of laughter. A brief moment of weightlessness, and…

The dead light damned, their head hurt. The vessel tried to sit up, only to miserably smack their horns on something above them- or really, smack their everything, on something around them. Seeker was quick to find they had rather little space to maneuver themself, yet could see very well to the world around them… All the corners were made of glass.

This was a jar. 

Rather than the soft ‘tinks’ of a clumsy young god waking up in a glass prison, the next sound was a hard, clear smack. Palm connecting with shell. Oh their luck, to come looking for answers, and find the answer- by being this wackadoo's next jarred little victim! Great! Just. _W o n d e r f u l._


	2. Glass Corners (pt2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The vessel finds a means of escape, but it has a cost...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING; Dark themes and violence apply for this chapter!

What to do about their little predicament, now, that would be the question they needed an answer to. Hopefully it wouldn’t be an answer that got them stuck in more weird places! Now, perhaps it wouldn’t be too hard- jars weren’t exactly something hard to break, with one good strike from a nail. It was just glass after all, and… Yes, it seemed to at least some luck, they had their nail in here with them. Odd to not disarm them, but really, someone stuffing bugs in jars probably wasn’t of right enough mind to debate such details.

Or maybe they figured it just wasn’t needed, given how little space they had to move. Not like they’d be getting any competent swings in a restrained space like this. So, that was one advantage, and one problem. Armed, but with little space to use the weapon. Their own body was taking up so much space they couldn’t really wiggle around for the momentum they needed, unless they felt like accidentally cutting themself. And then they’d have to deal with the crazy bastard AND injury, if it even worked. A swing like that would be so hard to gauge.

…

But aside from a headache, they were actually pretty fine. And their captor did seem to show up rather suddenly- Seeker paused. What if they waited for the bug to leave again? Then they could more than afford some damage. And a while a swing would be hard, a stab wouldn’t! Surely a pressure point of damage would be even better against their glass prison to boot. 

Oh yes, they could get themself out of this no problem! All it would take was patience… They knew from some unfortunate experience- vessels like themself could live through being impaled. Multiple times, in fact. Hollow proved that much, as disgusting as that fight had been on a whole, and nonetheless so to recall. Just accepting there were worse things in store for them at this point, Seeker wriggled and shifted in the jar to get their back against the glass, and wings out of the way- all the bumps and awkward positions the least of their worries in the process. 

A waiting game, one hand on the handle to their nail, the other pressed to the glass at their side for now. Waiting, and waiting… Almost falling asleep, until the distant mumblings and giggling stopped- a door creaking, and then silence. They were gone. How long did that take..? Hours, probably, maybe all day, hard to tell from where they were. But at least they had their chance now, with little thought or hesitance it was time to seize that chance. Both hands to the handle of the weapon, lifted and twisted as much into a half decent position as it could be. Hold it out a bit, and…

_“In three… Two… One.”_

_**CRACK!** _

A searing, yet hideously cold sensation, to feel the pale metal slide straight through their body and go out the other side. A harmony of agony and yet relief, as the glass broke around them, and yet the nail had to be pulled back out from whence it came. As their weapon was easily moved back to their side, a gush of void spurted from the vessel’s wounds. Slowly, it turned into a steady stream of pure, sickly darkness leaking from their body, as if the floor wasn’t already hazardous enough with broken glass- now it was slick too. 

Really, there was a lot to complain about with the situation. The painful hole through their body, being put in a jar to begin with, still being in this wretched tower, being surrounded by broken glass on a goopy, slick floor… But none of that was actually coming to mind as their primary concern. The more void poured from their body, the more Seeker failed to ignore a terrible, growing hunger. Oooh, how that feeling was so, so familiar- and by far, what bothered them most. Dark, hollow eyes flashed with silvery white as the vessel turned their attention to the other living captives.

\----

_**In the dead of the night, a locked door is forced open. Something escapes into Kingdom's Edge.** _

In the dead of the night, an obsessive bug returns with an armful of more unfortunates, what should be an addition to a massive collection. However, giggles fade into silence as the collection is once again in sight… Demolished. At least a dozen specimens out of their jars, but not running loose, how that would’ve been so much better. No, the various precious, beloved creatures were dead on the floor, withered and wasted away, scattered in a messy trail of void. One broken jar in particular had no body to go with it- that new little bug, captured just the previous night, gone. Gone, and having left absolute havoc in their wake. 

A new jar was grabbed, and nimble feet danced around the chaos, following the thick, black trail that would hopefully lead the Collector back to their troublesome little escapee. This new enclosure would be particularly close quarters, clearly the last one wasn’t tight enough! Clearly, they needed to be more STRICT.

Ah, a bug of with any decent sanity would’ve been deterred by the clearly smashed open door, and the trail of other small corpses continuing to litter the vessel’s path. The only thing that did work was having utterly nothing to go off of- it all suddenly stopped, at the edge of a cliff. The dark, still rather warm night of Kingdom’s Edge yielded no answers to what happened, as all that remained was the terrible cliff below. Like their target was a ghost, just… Vanished into thin air from the edge of the cliff. A pool of void, a few pink shards of something floating in it, and nothing more.

Well. They had a lot of work to do to fix all of that dreadful damage.

How unfortunate, that the Collector only had intentions to fix the damage inside, and not particularly what was now happening outside. It was more than the colosseum above making bodies rain down, the hunger of a young, angry god joining in the senseless massacre for the night.


End file.
